The Morphing Masters
by Tang Ri Shan
Summary: Thousands of years ago, a team of great warriors fought and died protecting the source of life on Earth from being stolen by a great evil. They had hoped the evil had been defeated. They were wrong. The evil has returned, and now the only things that stand in its way are six teenagers with attitude who hardly even know each other. How can they possibly hope to stop the risen evil?
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

Destruction, as far as the eye could see. As Pteranodons flew squawking loudly overhead, the sky above them was filled with smoke and ash, blocking out almost all light. The major source of light in this wasteland came from the fires that raged up and down the mountains.

In the midst of all this destruction, a single figure could be seen, struggling across the charred landscape. Clad in red armor, with a red helmet covering his face, the figure crawled in its hands and knees, its heavy breathing echoing across the charred mountainside. It flattened itself against the ground as a large spaceship passed by overhead, the draft from its engines throwing up a cloud of dust that made the figure pause. Only when the ship had moved on did the figure resume its struggle, crawling through a large puddle of water.

The figure suddenly spotted another figure, clad in similar armor it, only hers was yellow.

The yellow warrior handed something to her red counterpart, a coin. As it left her hands, the warrior's armor suddenly retracted, revealing an alien with hairless, pale gray skin.

"I'm sorry" The red warrior spoke in an alien language.

"We…we should have listened to Demitria" The yellow warrior gasped, struggling to draw breath.

"I'm sorry" The red warrior's voice was filled with remorse as he clutched the alien's hands. The yellow warrior gave one final gasp and closed her eyes for the last time.

"Alpha, Ayeesha is gone. I am the last one left" The figure spoke as it resumed its crawl across the landscape. "We must stop her. Send the meteor to my coordinates" As he spoke, the figure grabbed at the brush before him, eventually revealing what looked like a hole in the ground.

The figure grabbed at a portion of his own armor, and it retracted as he removed a rad-tinted crystal coin, revealing the figure to be another alien with hairless gray skin.

The warrior held up his own coin, the yellow coin, and four other coins of different colors. "Seek only those who are worthy. Find those who are strong" With that, he placed all six coins into the hole. The coins glowed, and the glowing light spread out from each coin and into the ground around them, covering the coins in some kind of substance.

As the warrior watched, an evil cackle from nearby made him look up to see another armored figure, this one wearing green armor, standing nearby, holding a golden staff. A green coin gleamed from near the top of the staff, its light illuminating the surrounding landscape.

"With the Zeo Crystal, we could have ruled the Universe together" The woman said.

With regret in his eyes, the warrior replied "That was never going to happen"

"Then you will die, Zordon" The woman in green snarled.

The regret in Zordon's eyes turned to determination as he growled back. "We will die together, Rita"

A sudden booming noise made Zordon and Rita look up to see a large ball of fire fall from the sky, heading directly for them. As Rita gasped, she did not see Zordon fling himself forward to cover the coins with his body. The meteor struck the earth mere inches away from them, the force of the impact knocking Rita off her feet and off of the cliff that they both stood on.

As Rita fell, her staff shattered, the gold becoming liquid and seeping into the ground. Rita fell into the sea and sank beneath the waves, followed by her glowing green coin.

On the cliff, Zordon lay sprawled over the substance that held the coins. He did not move. A few feet away from him, lay massive glowing crystal that glowed brighter and brighter.

* * *

 **And Cut!**

 **I've always been a big fan of the Power Rangers franchise and I enjoyed the movie that came out in 2017. However, one of the biggest flaws of the film, in my opinion, was that some of the scenes weren't done in the best way. This is my take on the Power Rangers 2017 film. The only thing I own is my OC. Hop you enjoy it!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	2. Chapter 1

**CH 1:**

The bellow echoed loudly down the halls of the school. A door painted with the image of a bull burst open, revealing two teenagers dragging a real bull into a locker room.

"It had to be a cow! It couldn't be a dog, or something else that doesn't weight 10,000 pounds!" One of the teenagers grunted as he pushed on the bull from behind.

"Come on, can you just help me, dude?" The second teenager snapped as he pulled on a rope tied around the bull's neck.

"I'm the one doing all the work here, man!" The first boy snapped back as he pushed, causing the bull to bellow.

"Come on! Push! Push!"

The boy in the back suddenly yelped. "Jason, it stepped on my foot!"

"Pull yourself together" Jason pulled to the side, causing the bull to turn, knocking over a cooler of Gatorade in the process.

The bull gave another angry bellow and began to thrash about in the confined space of the locker room.

"Just tie it to the bench and let's get out of here, please!" The second boy begged

"The cow seems unhappy, huh?" Jason joked as he tied the bull to one of the benches.

"Well, it shouldn't be unhappy, because I just milked her" The second boy leaned over the bull's back as he spoke.

Jason froze at the second boys' words, then he looked up, a somewhat disgusted look on his face. "Him" He corrected. "You just milked him"

The other boys' eyes widened. "This is a him?"

"Was there only one udder?" Jason asked. The boy nodded. "Yeah, that's not an udder, dude"

"I was gonna say, it did feel kinda weird…"

"Stop! Just stop!" Jason cut the other boy off. "We will _never_ speak of this again, okay?"

"That'd be great!" As Jason finished tying the bull, the other boy clicked on a flashlight and knelt down to look under the bull, a look of disgust on his face.

"Cops!" The door suddenly opened and another boy burst in. "The cops are coming!"

Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder, as all three boys stared at each other. The bull snorted loudly.

All three boys bolted. "Beefcake, hide!" Jason yelled as he left, shutting the door behind him.

The three boys raced through the hallways and burst out the front doors of the school, almost running right into a girl with long blonde hair.

"Hey! Watch it!" The girl snapped as she darted backwards to avoid Jason, dropping the spray paint cans she was carrying.

"Haylee?" The second boy stopped and stared as the girl scrambled to pick up the cans. "What are _you_ doing here?"

The girl bit her lip before answering. "I…I could ask _you_ three the same question."

"Guys, we don't have time for this!" The lookout boy shouted as he bolted past Haylee. "We need to…woah!" The boy stopped, his eyes widening.

Jason and his friend slowly turned to look where the boy was looking, and both boys felt their jaws drop.

Sprayed over both of the front doors were two highly detailed animals, a snorting bull, and a growling tiger, both drawn facing each other in heraldic style.

"Wow!" The second boy was awestruck.

"Did…did _you_ do this?" Jason asked, looking back at Haylee.

"Um...well.…" Haylee stammered, suddenly looking nervous. She hid the spray cans behind her back.

"Oh My God! It's _you!_ The second boy suddenly exclaimed, his eyes growing wide as he pointed at Haylee. "You're the mysterious artist whose work has been appearing all over town! You're Acrylic!"

"Seriously?" Now Jason's eyes widened.

"No way!" The lookout boy was awestruck.

Haylee spluttered, looking from one boy to another. "You guys, I am _not_ Acrylic. I...I just work for her!"

Jason scoffed. "Oh come on! You seriously think we're gonna believe _that_ when the evidence is right here!" He argued. "I've seen enough of her work to know that _this_ is 100% Acrylic style, and you just _happen_ to be here, with spray cans in your hands! How stupid do you think we are?" He gestured to the images, then to the cans.

"Okay fine! You caught me! I'm Acrylic, I admit it! Are you happy?" Haylee snapped, her eyes flashing.

"Extremely" Jason replied, a triumphant expression on his face. Haylee glared at him.

"So now you know why _I'm_ here, you mind telling me why _you're_ all here?" Haylee asked, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Before any of the boys could answer, the door bearing the bull image suddenly burst open and the bull from the locker room emerged. Haylee's jaw hit the floor. With a bellow, the bull rushed down the steps towards the street, but stopped as cop cars, their sirens screaming, screeched to a halt on the other side of the gate.

"Run!" One of the boys shouted, and the four of them scattered.

"ARGH! I _hate_ having a project interrupted!" Haylee yelled as she ran for the fence.

"Sorry about that, Acrylic!" Jason yelled as he hopped over the fence and raced to his car.

"Yeah! Our bad!" Jason heard one of his friends yell as he dove inside and shut the door. Pop music blared through the cars speakers as he started the engine. The car's headlights snapped on, revealing several officers racing towards him. Jason cursed under his breath and shifted the car into reverse. The car jerked backwards and spun, tires-screeching, on the road.

"Whoo!" Jason cheered as he left the cops in the dust, only to curse when he saw more cop cars up ahead. Swerving, Jason rammed through a gate, emerging on a one-way road, and directly in the path of an oncoming car.

"Woah!" Jason exclaimed as he swerved to avoid running into the car. Honking angrily, the car swerved as well, shooting past Jason, and screeching to a halt, blocking the road, keeping the cop cars from being able to follow. Still, Jason doesn't relax.

"Okay!" Jason bit his lip as he swerved off the road onto a side street. He then quickly swerved onto another road and, and quickly parked behind a truck. He shut his engine off and waited, his heart beating, his breath held.

Sirens screaming, several cop cars raced past the street he was hiding on. Then all was quiet.

"Woohoo! Yeah!" Jason laughed with relief as he started his car again, and drove back onto the road…only for a truck to suddenly pull out in front of him.

"Woah!" Jason's eyes widened as he swerved desperately. He avoided the truck, but the front of his car hit the curb and he slammed into a parked car. Jason covered his face as his car flipped end over end. The car finally slammed back into the street, upside down. The glass windshield crunched and the roof of the car buckled inwards from the impact. As the car finally came to rest, Jason hung limply in his seat, upside down, still suspended by his seat belt. Just before he passed out, he heard the sounds of the sirens again, growing louder. The truck driver must have called the cops back.

"So much…for being home free" He muttered before passing out.

 **Meanwhile:**

"A bull? An actual bull? Are you freaking kidding me?" Haylee gasped as she leapt over the fence and sprinted towards a dark alley, throwing her spray cans into a dumpster.

"Jason Lee Scott, you are _crazy!"_ Haylee grumbled as she crouched behind the dumpster and waited as two cop cars screamed past. When they were gone, Haylee approached an object draped under a ratty-looking tarp. Grasping the tarp, she pulled it off, revealing a gleaming black-and-white motorcycle.

Haylee crammed a white helmet on her head and mounted the cycle. "I can't believe this" She growled as she twisted the throttle bars, making the motor rev.

She powered out of the alleyway, gunning her bike motor. After spinning around in the street, purely to let off some steam, and shot away from the school. She hated leaving a project that was half-finished, but she had no choice. She only hoped she hadn't left anything that the police could use to connect her with what had happened.

"Impossible" Haylee told herself as she roared down the road that ran out of town. "I wore gloves. There's no way I left fingerprints, and I know better than to leave any other evidence lying around."

Feeling satisfied, Haylee gunned the motor and raced along the dark road towards a set of majestic cliffs in the distance. After about twenty minutes, she came to an extension of the road that lead to a gravel filled area that served as a lookout point for visitors to enjoy the view of the ocean below, Haylee coasted her bike off the road, parked it, and got off. Pulling off her helmet, Haylee set it down on her bike and leaned against it, gazing out at the nighttime ocean in front of her.

 _This'll be perfect for the ocean scene that one client was requesting!_ Haylee thought to herself as she let her eyes roam over the scene in front of her, taking in as many of the minute details as she could, memorizing them for later referral. As an artist, Haylee prided herself on detail. She had what she liked to call, an artistic eye. An eye she had used to become the mysterious street artist known as Acrylic when she had first arrived in Angel Grove.

Haylee frowned. She supposed it was _former_ mysterious street artist now, since Jason and two of his friends had discovered her. While she suspected she would be found out eventually, it still made her feel a bit uncomfortable. Her art was all she had now, and for the longest time it had been just it and her. It was her private thing.

Still, Haylee couldn't resist grinning when she remembered how awe-struck the boys had been, especially when one of them mentioned how he had been following her work. It felt…good to finally be recognized for her work. Up until now, Haylee had been too afraid to reveal herself, especially since some of her art incorporated the use of other people's walls, but…maybe it was time to reconsider. Maybe...maybe the town would see her art as a good thing. She had overheard many good comment from her fellow classmates about her work, but she had also heard just as many negative comments from some of the town's residents.

Haylee's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by her cell phone vibrating. She pulled it out and answered the call without checking the caller ID. "Hello?"

" _Haylee, I need you to come in, now_ " Haylee's eyes widened, then narrowed as she recognized the voice.

"Mark, you _know_ tonight's my night off!" Haylee groaned.

" _I know that!_ " Haylee winced. Mark didn't sound like he was in a good mood. " _But Jennifer called in sick and that leaves us one girl short_ "

"Really?" Haylee raised an eyebrow. "Did you check her house? 'Cause I'm pretty sure if you sent someone over there, you'd find Jennifer curled up on the couch, watching Fox flicks and halfway done smoking her third..."

" _Look bitch! I don't wanna hear it!_ " Mark cut Haylee off. " _You live under my roof, you do what I say! And I say, you'd better get your ass back here now, or I'm making the call!"_

"Okay! Okay!" A look of alarm appeared on Haylee's face. "But I'm not in Angel Grove at the moment. I'm near Stone Canyon"

" _What the hell are you doing so far out of town?_ " Mark's voice dripped with sudden suspicion.

"I'm sight-seeing" Haylee replied sarcastically. "It'll take me at least a half-hour to get back"

" _Well, You've got thirty minutes to get back here, not a second longer._ " Mark growled.

 _That's what I just said!_ Haylee thought angrily, but she kept this to herself. "Anything specific you want me to wear when I get back?"

There was a pause, during which Haylee heard muttering in the background. Then Mark's voice came back. " _My client wants you to wear the silver set_ "

Haylee groaned. She hated that outfit.

" _What was that?_ " Mark snapped.

"Nothing!" Haylee quickly soothed. "Can I ask who I'm 'entertaining'?"

 _"Oh, you'll find out"_ Haylee's eyes narrowed at Mark's smug tone. " _Now get the hell back here!"_

"All right! All right! I'm coming!" Haylee said as she hung up the phone and shoved it back into her pocket. Gritting her teeth, she just stood there for a few seconds, gazing out at the dark sea, feeling the cool ocean winds wash over her. Normally, this helped her calm down, but tonight she was too wired after what had happened earlier, and the dread of what was about to happen. Eventually, Haylee sighed and jammed her helmet back on her head. She revved up her bike and got back on the road. Looks like sleep would have to wait. She had some 'guests' to 'entertain'.

* * *

 **And Cut!**

 **I know I published this chapter already, but I changed my mind about the plotline. Hey! It can happen to anyone, okay! Anyway, I think this new plotline will flow more smoothly than what I had originally decided on.**

 **I'm drawing inspiration for this story, not just from the movie, but also from a lot of ranger fiction stories I've been finding on Quotev. There's a lot of good stuff on there!**

 **Hopefully now that I've finally decided on a plot line (Again, I know I said that already, but I'm serious this time), things will flow more quickly, because I really want to get this story finished.**

 **Until Next Time!**


	3. Chapter 2

**CH 2:**

 **Three Weeks Later**

A dark-toned pickup truck pulled up in front of a white-walled building with red-lined windows. As it came to a stop, Jason's father, Sam Scott, turned to look at his son in the passenger seat. Jason's eyes were closed.

"We're here" Sam grunted.

"Cool" Jason scoffed and opened his eyes. He leaned back in his chair to pull his leg up to the dashboard. As Jason tied his shoe, his father's gaze fell on the house arrest transmitter strapped to his leg and his lip curled.

"You know, I don't think we're ever gonna understand each other." Sam said grimly. "Just when I think you've done the dumbest thing you can possibly do, you find something even dumber and you do it"

"Thank you" Jason said sarcastically.

"I promise you, Jason. This is _not_ the time to be a smartass!" Sam growled. "And I know you think it's noble that you didn't rat out your friends."

"I told you, I acted alone." Said Jason. "Beefcake and I had a…connection"

"You mean you and Haylee had a connection" Sam corrected. Jason froze and finally turned to look at his father.

"For the last time Dad, there is nothing going on between Haylee and me! Her being there was just a...coincidence" He growled. "It was purely chance, you know? Just like the chance you take every time you go out on that stupid boat of yours. In fact, you know what? You take so many chances when you go out on that boat, that you know what your boat _should_ be called? 'The Lady Luck'!"

Sam's expression went from annoyed to livid. "That's funny. You know what's not funny? This was supposed to be _your_ season. I had scouts coming to every game! You could have written your own ticket! Now it's all gone! And now you've gotta come here, every Saturday, just so you can graduate, with all these other weirdos, and…criminals!" Sam's tone got especially dark as he suddenly spotted Haylee riding by on her motorcycle.

Jason snorted when he saw what his father was looking at. "Oh god, why are the pretty ones always bad?" He moaned sarcastically as Haylee pulled off her helmet, allowing her blond locks to cascade down her back.

Jason smirked as he heard an angry intake of breath from his father. "I want you to stay away from her, Jason" Sam said.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't" Jason replied.

"Jason, are you even listening to me!" Sam was yelling now

"Why should I?" Jason replied coldly. "Like you said, we'll never understand each other"

For a moment, Sam looked like he wanted to respond. He chewed on his lip angrily, but kept his mouth closed. Instead, he reached over and fumbled with Jason's door, opening it.

Jason looked at his father, snorted, and shook his head. Then he stepped out of the car.

* * *

Haylee had been stupid to think that she had been home free. She should have known that something bad would happen, and it had. Despite every precaution she had taken, the police had found enough evidence to connect her with what had happened at Stone Canyon High. A necklace that she had been wearing had fallen off when Jason almost ran into her, and in the madness that followed, Haylee had forgotten about it until she was back at home. It was a necklace she had worn enough times around town for enough people to know it was hers. Sure enough, barely a week after that night, Haylee had woken up to find the police in her living room. She had been arrested, processed, and charged, both with trespassing and, with multiple counts of vandalism. Apparently, the cops were better at putting two-and-two together than she had thought, for they had somehow also worked out that she was Acrylic. Now her 'secret identity' was fast becoming common knowledge, and she had been noticing mixed responses from the townsfolk, who had mostly ignored her before. She would get a mixture of glares (mostly from people whose property she had painted on) and grins (mostly from fellow students who applauded her for her rebellious actions).

Wanting to avoid a big fuss, Haylee had pleaded guilty to the charges. Fortunately, since she had used paint that could be washed off, the judge ruled that no permanent damage had been done and sentenced her to community service. She had been spending the last two weekends de-facing some of the buildings she had tagged, under the careful watch of the Angel Grove PD. Haylee supposed she could consider herself lucky things hadn't ended up worse, at least with Angel Grove PD.

However, it had been a different story at home. Mark, who was her guardian as well as her boss, was _not_ happy to learn of Haylee's 'extra-curricular' activities, and he had made his angry feelings painfully clear to Haylee. He had initiated a mandatory curfew of 7 pm and was more than willing to enforce it, as Haylee had learned after he had caught her trying to sneak out once already. Since the two of them lived above where they worked, it was nearly impossible for Haylee to leave without Mark knowing. Haylee winced as she hopped off her bike and reached back to open the storage compartment under the seat. Her back still hurt from her 'session' last night. But there was hope. Tonight was gonna be a busy night at the 'establishment', and Haylee was hoping to slip away in the confusion of the throng of customers she knew would be arriving. Luckily, Mark had also forbidden Haylee from working, so he wouldn't miss her right away, leaving her a few precious hours of freedom that she did _not_ plan to waste, as long as she didn't run into anyone who knew she had been at Stone Canyon that night. Surprisingly, people weren't making much of a big deal about that, at least in regards to her.

This was probably becuase Jason Lee Scott had also been caught by the police. Apparently, he had wrecked his car racing way from the scene. Haylee hadn't spoken to Jason since that night. Part of her wondered if the police had found out about her secret through him, after all, Jason had been known to manipulate people in the past, especially girls. He had that kind of magnetism that drew people to him and got them to listen. That was what made him such a good football player, but it also made him a tricky person. Maybe Jason had spilled Haylee's secret to get a lighter sentence, but in her gut, Haylee doubted it. Despite his manipulative history, Jason seemed like a good person at his core. Besides, Jason hadn't exactly gotten of easy, from what Haylee had heard. He'd busted his knee, spent three days in jail, and, worst of all, he had been forced to leave the football team, which had suffered an embarrassing defeat against Stone Canyon as a result. Talk about karma!

As Haylee parked her motorcycle and ran the security chain through the front tire and attached it to a lamp post, she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey there, Acrylic" Haylee looked up to see Jason standing over her, a small smile on his face.

"Hey yourself, Beefcake" Haylee teased as she straightened up. Jason snorted and rolled his eyes.

PARRP! PAAARP! "JASON!" Haylee and Jason look around to see Sam glaring at them.

"Isn't that your dad?" Haylee asked, watching the man display a gesture of what appeared to be disbelief.

"Yep" Jason sounded as smug as he looked.

"What's he so mad about?" Haylee wondered.

"Heh, probably the fact that he's seeing me talking to you, _right_ after he _explicitly_ told me to stay away from you" Jason chuckled.

As Haylee saw Jason gazing defiantly at his dad, she felt envy suddenly rear up inside her like a snake. Jason had a father that loved him more than almost anything, and Jason was apparently too blind to see it. Haylee couldn't believe that Jason was deliberately trying to push himself away from his father like this, and even worse, he was using _her_ to do it.

"Really?" Haylee's voice turned cold as she strapped her helmet to her backpack. "So, you're saying that the only reason you're even talking to me right now is because your father told you _not_ to? Wow, that makes me feel _so_ special"

"What?" Jason looked around to see that Haylee was no longer there. Looking around, he spotted her heading up the steps of the school. "Hey, wait a minute!" Jason called as he chased after her, running in front of another car as he does so, forcing it to screech to a stop, to the annoyance of the two adults in the front seats. In the seat behind them, a dark-haired teenage girl watched the two teens climb the steps with mild interest.

* * *

"Haylee, wait!" Jason called as he continued to pursue Haylee down the main hallway of the school building, but the girl marched on ahead without even acknowledging that she had heard him.

"Haylee, stop!" Jason finally caught up with Haylee in front of the school's trophy case and grabbed her arm, bringing the girl to a halt.

"Why?" Haylee whirled around, her eyes flashing angrily and her mouth set into a snarl. "So you can _use_ me some more? No thanks!"

"I…what?" Jason blinked in surprise.

Haylee sighed and shook her head. "Tell me Jason, did it ever cross your mind that maybe I don't _want_ to be a tool to help take out your aggression against your father" She said, trying to keep her voice steady, but there was a cold tone in her words that Jason noticed.

"Woah, wait! I'm not….!" Jason started to say.

"Not what? Not using me" Haylee interrupted. "But didn't you _just_ say, not five minutes ago, that the _only_ reason you were talking to me outside the school was to piss off your father?"

"Hey, I never said that. You just assumed that!" Jason argued.

"Oh, my mistake" Haylee said sarcastically. "Then why _were_ you talking to me?"

"I... I…. I thought that….I wanted to…" Jason stuttered, suddenly struggling to come up with something to say. The truth was, Haylee was right. Jason had primarily been talking to Haylee because his dad had told him not to. He was used to pretty girls not questioning his actions, so to have Haylee lash out at him like this was surprising.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. It's always about _you_ , isn't it, Jason?" Haylee snorted as she wrenched her arm out of Jason's grasp. "Well, here's a radical idea for you. Maybe, just this once, you should consider listening to your father"

With that, Haylee turned and stomped away down the corridor.

As Jason watched Haylee stalk away down the corridor, his gaze flitted to a display case that contained trophies, a photo of him, and his old jersey.

Jason's memory flashed back to happier times as a radio announcer began speaking in his head.

" _One play left in the entire game, can Angel Grove do it? They're down by five. Jason Scott takes his position at the quarterback. Here comes the snap. Wide receiver Marty Borne looks like he's open, he's getting ready for a pass. Jason Scott makes-no, no, wait! He doesn't make a pass! What a pump fake! He's running with the ball! He's at the twenty, the fifteen, the ten! Jason Scott scores! Touchdown! Jason Scott single-handedly brings the team home for the championship!_

Jason shook his head to clear it of the memories and bent down to drink from the fountain on the other side of the trophy case. As he did so, he heard footsteps and looked up from his drink to see a girl with long dark hair approaching.

Jason recognized the girl, it was Kimberly Hart, a member of the cheerleading squad who used to date Ty Flemming, one of Jason's teammates.

Jason straightened up as Kimberly approached. "Hey, how's it going?" He called, raising his hand in greeting. But Kimberly ignored him, walking past Jason like he wasn't even there. Jason watched Kimberly go, then sighed and picked up his bag.

* * *

The classroom where detention was held was in the basement of the building. As Haylee came through the door at the top of the stairs, she saw that, as usual, the classroom was in complete disarray, with loud rock music playing from someone's speakers, and people talking loudly to each other instead of sitting quietly in their seats.

Haylee snorted as she descended the stairs. What did they think would happen if you gathered all the school's miscreants and put them into one room on the weekend?

Haylee reached the bottom of the stairs and started towards an empty desk near the middle of the room.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our resident street artist" Haylee looked up to see one of the students, a bully named Colt Wallace, smirking at her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our resident carthorse _colt_ " Haylee sassed back, wiping the smile from Colt's face and causing several other students to chuckle. Feeling a little less angry now, Haylee continued to her seat.

As she sat down, Haylee suddenly heard Colt call out "Mooooo!". Gritting her teeth, she looked up at Colt, preparing to verbally flay him, but Colt wasn't looking at her. She followed his gaze and saw Jason descending the stairs, an annoyed expression on his face.

"That's so funny" A girl exclaimed as Haylee shook her head at Colt's joke.

"Hey, you sure you're in the right room, man?" A boy called out, laughing, as Jason reached the bottom of the stairs.

Jason framed the caller with a dark look, then shrugged and headed towards a free desk near the middle of the room.

"Ooh, tough guy!" Another boy jeered.

As Jason headed towards his seat, he passed the desk of an African-American teen who caught his eye. Jason nodded at the kid, who didn't respond, but simply went back to coloring what appeared to be a map, spread out on the desk in front of him, groups of colored pencils lined up neatly on the desk next to the map.

"This one goes here, and that one goes there" He muttered under his breath, as he re-arranged the pencils carefully.

Colt, who had been sneering at Jason, suddenly noticed the kid's antics and stood up, grinning.

He stalked over towards the kid's desk. The kid didn't notice him, he was still muttering to himself as he continued to re-arrange the pencils. "Primary colors go on this side. This one goes…"

The boy was suddenly cut off as Colt deliberately bumped into the desk, causing the neatly arranged pencils to scatter into disarray.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here, let me help you" The bully said sarcastically, bending down to pick up one of the pencils that had fallen onto the floor. He held it out to the boy.

"Oh, thanks, I…" The boy reached for the pencil, but Colt suddenly jerked it out of reach.

"You're a freak, you know that?" Colt sneered loudly, drawing the attention of most of the room. "I've had to watch you play with these for weeks. Are you crazy, or something?" He waved the pencil in front of the boy, whose eyes followed it the way a snake follows a charmer's flute.

Jason heard a snort of disgust and he turned to see Haylee shake her head as she watched the display.

"No? What if you had an extra one?" Colt's voice drew Jason back around just in time to see Colt snap the pencil he was holding in half and drop it to the floor. The boy grimaced angrily, but didn't do or say anything to make Colt stop.

"Wow, what a freak" Someone said, followed by a chorus of laughter. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Haylee's lip curl. She looked seconds away from rushing to the kid's aid.

 _Hmmm_ , Jason thought as Haylee's words from earlier flashed into his mind. His body started to move before he realized it. By the time his mind caught up, he had risen from his chair and was stalking over to where Colt was still taunting the boy.

"Why don't you cut this little act, and do something?" Colt taunted, snapping another pencil in half. "Why don't you stop me, huh? Are you gonna stop-?"

By this time, Jason had reached the boy's desk, and shoved Colt away.

"Hey! How old are you, five?" He snapped, causing everyone to look at him. He saw disbelief on Colt's face, confusion on the boy's face, and amusement on almost everyone else's face.

Ignoring everyone else, Jason focused on Colt. "Hi, I'm Jason. It's my first time here, it's so exciting!" There was a sarcastic edge to Jason's voice that made several people scoff. "And _you_ must be the bully of detention. Seriously, how dumb can you be?" Jason taunted Colt.

Colt suddenly swung at Jason, who dodged the blow easily, to the amusement of the assembled. Colt swung again, with the same result as the first time.

After dodging both punches, Jason calmly slaps the bully on the jaw.

"Oh!" The students exclaimed in unison. The colored boy winced.

"Did…did you just slap me?" Colt asked, rubbing his jaw, as though he didn't quite understand what had just happened.

"I did." Jason answered. "Weird, right?" This was directed at Colt's victim. "Now, I'm gonna be here, every day, for what seems like the rest of my life and I'm sure you will be too, so let's make a deal. Don't sit near me, or him" Jason looked at the colored boy again. "And we'll be okay"

Jason then walked back to his seat, leaving Colt standing there, stunned. As he passed Haylee's chair, he shot Haylee a smile, and the girl rolled her eyes in response.

* * *

 **And Cut!**

 **I know I promised a Hidden Helper chapter, but I found a sudden inspiration to finish this instead.**

 **One thing I wanted to explore while writing this chapter was Jason's personality, as I don't believe that was fully expressed in the film. We never really understand (or at least I don't understand) why Jason stood up for Billy in detention, so I wanted to give him a reason, while at the same time explore how the former 'King of Angel Grove High' would react to being blatantly criticized by a pretty girl, something that had probably never happened to him before.**

 **I also wanted to explore Haylee's backstory a little more. For those of you who figured out what Haylee's work is, great! For those who haven't, I'm not telling, so try to pay attention in the chapters that follow. But one thing I wanted to strongly hint at is a possible motivation for why Haylee would go out and do street art. You think I succeeded?**

 **Until Next Time!**


	4. Chapter 3

**CH 3:**

Haylee snorted as Jason resumed his seat. She had a pretty good feeling that Jason had defended that kid primarily because of what she had said to him earlier.

 _If you think playing hero is gonna impress me, Jason. You've got another thing coming_ , Haylee thought bitterly as she reached down to unzip her bag.

"Okay" A male teacher had appeared at the top of the stairs. "Uh, approved homework or working on the Better Choices workbook." He said as he came down the stairs. "These should be out and in progress…"

"I need to use the ladies' room" Kimberly suddenly got to her feet, passing him and moving up the stairs.

"Uh…" the teacher turned to stop her, then seemed to give up and turned away "Okay, and Good Morning"

Haylee snorted again as the teacher made his way to the front of the desk. Mr. Anderson was a longtime teacher at Angel Grove High. You'd think he'd know by now that allowing students to walk all over him wasn't the way to gain respect from them.

Haylee reached into her bag, and paused when she didn't feel anything there. Frowning, she turned to look into her bag, and saw it empty.

"Urgh! I don't believe it!" Haylee snapped.

"What's wrong, Haylee?" Haylee looked up to see Mr. Anderson looking at her.

"My workbook's not in my bag!" Haylee growled, rooting around in her bag.

"Well, then just take out your homework and…"

"Finished it last night." Haylee cut Mr. Anderson off, then froze as realization struck her. "Oh, wait! I think my workbook might be in my locker, I'm gonna go check!" Haylee got up from her chair and moved towards the stairs.

"Okay then, but hurry up!" Mr. Anderson ordered as Haylee scurried up the stairs.

 **Meanwhile**

Kimberly was standing in the ladies' room, looking around, an annoyed expression on her face.

Suddenly one of the stall doors burst open, casuing Kimberly to whirl around. Two other girls stepped out, laughing.

Kimberly sighed in relief as she recognized her friends. "Oh my god, _there_ you are! I got your text and I was like 'where are they?'" Kimberly chuckled, but her humor died when she saw the smug look on the girl's faces.

"So… _this_ is where you come every Saturday instead of practice" One of the girls said slowly

"God, it must suck to be you right now" The other girl added.

"It does" Kimberly nodded.

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have sent Ty that picture of me" The first girl said, her smile fading.

Kimberly blinked at the sudden change in conversation. "Well…that…that's not exactly what happened. I…I mean, Ty's a liar, you know that, right?" Kimberly looked from one girl's face to the other. Both were sporting identically cold faces.

"You punched his tooth out" The second girl sneered.

"They put it back" Kimberly argued.

"Water under the bridge" The first girl said, a smile suddenly reappearing on her face. "It's time for us to move on"

Kimberly sighed happily, her shoulders sagging in obvious relief. "Oh, thank God! I have missed out weekend hangouts _so much_ you have no…what's so funny?" Kimberly asked because both girls had started chuckling.

"You must not have heard me correctly" The first girl purred, her smile looking smugger every second. "When I said it's time for ' _us_ ' to move on, I meant _we're_ moving on, without you"

"Cutting you out, literally" The second girl added, pulling a pair of scissors and a photograph of the three of them from her backpack. Before Kimberly's wide eyes, the girl used the scissors to cut up the photograph, separating Kimberly from the other two girls, before letting the portion with Kimberly on it fall to the floor.

"You can show up for cheerleading practice if you _want_ " The second girl said as she moved to the wall and used the scissors to pin the other piece of the photograph to the wall, "But I _wouldn't_ " She added before both girls left, making sure to step on Kimberly's portion of the photograph as they did.

Kimberly stood there, stunned, the giggles of her former squad-mates ringing in her ears.

"Kimberly?" The girl spun around to find Haylee standing in the doorway, her workbook in her hand.

"Haylee, what are you doing here?"

Haylee gave Kimberly a grim smile. "I saw those two cheerleaders looking rather smug as they left the ladies room and figured I should see why. In my experience, Cheerleaders looking smug usually isn't a good thing. No offense" She quickly added.

Kimberly slowly shook her head. "None taken. I'm not on the squad anymore"

Haylee's smile faded. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" Kimberly said quickly.

Haylee raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because the glum expression on your face says otherwise. You're not a very good liar, Kimberly." She paused for a moment, then added. "Did you really punch Ty's tooth out?"

Kimberly snorted. "They put it back"

"Too bad" said Haylee. "Between you and me, I think he looked better with it out"

Both girls giggled, then silence descended.

"So, how are you planning to respond?" Haylee finally asked.

"What do you mean?" Kimberly looked at Haylee.

"I mean, your 'friends'…" Haylee accented the word with her fingers… "made a statement by doing this" She walked over to the wall and yanked on the scissors, pulled the cut photograph free, and pressed it into Kimberly's hands. "How are you going to answer them?"

Kimberly looked at Haylee, then at the photograph. A scowl formed on her face as she ripped the photograph to shreds, letting the pieces fall to the floor.

"Not bad" Haylee commented. "Is that all?"

"Nope" Kimberly said, walking over to pick up the scissors. Straightening up, she turned and handed then to Haylee. "Cut my hair"

Haylee blinked a few times. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. _Cut my hair._ " Kimberly said firmly.

"Why?"

"All the cheerleaders have long hair. It's…kind of our trademark." Kimberly explained. "They've made it clear they don't want anything to do with me, will, I don't want anything to do with them either. So, cutting my hair will show that"

Haylee nodded, but didn't take the scissors. "Okay, that explains _why_ you want your hair cut, but not why you want _me_ to cut it"

Kimberly smiled. "Because _you're_ the artist, not me"

Haylee groaned, but a smile appeared on her face.

"Seriously, cut my hair already." Kimberly placed the scissors into Haylee's hands, her smile fading.

"Okay, okay" Haylee put down her workbook and took the scissors as Kimberly turned her back.

Haylee carefully measured Kimberly's hair length to just above her shoulders and snipped through it with the scissors, causing thick brown locks to fall to the floor.

"What do you think?" Haylee asked when she had finished.

Kimberly examined her new appearance in the mirror, running her fingers along her new hair length. She smiled. "Looks good."

"Thanks." Haylee smiled as she put down the scissors, then her smile faded. "Seriously though. Why did you want _me_ to cut your hair? Especially when it would have been easier, and _safer_ for you to do it yourself."

"Well…" A small smile appeared on Kimberly's face. "Let's just say that I trusted you not to go crazy with my hair"

Haylee raised an eyebrow. " _You_ trusted _me_? Kimberly, you barely _know_ me"

"That's not exactly true" Kimberly said. "I know you're the secretive street artist, Acrylic"

"You and the whole town" Haylee muttered under her breath.

"I know that your father owns the Hitching Post, a strip club outside of town" Kimberly tried again.

"Don't remind me" Haylee growled.

"I know you're one of the coolest people in Angel Grove high"

 _That_ made Haylee's eyes widen and she let out an amused snort. " _Me?_ The coolest person in the school. Yeah, right!"

"I'm serious" said Kimberly, and to Haylee's amazement, the girl looked just as serious as she sounded. "And not just because you're a street artist. You don't care what other people think about you, you always have some kind of sassy comeback at the ready when someone tries to put you down, and you aren't afraid to stick your neck out for others. I've seen you offer support to other people in the past, especially people who have been bullied, like what you would have done to Billy Cranston a little while ago, if Jason Scott hadn't beaten you to it. I respect that…even admire it." Kimberly shuffled awkwardly.

"Really?" Haylee looked genuinely surprised at this. "Why didn't you say something?"

"For two reasons. Firstly, you actually intimidated a lot of my friends." Kimberly said, making Haylee snort in amusement. "The second was…that every time someone tries to get close to you, you push them away. Gently, but you still push them away"

The amusement in Haylee's face was replaced with a solemn expression. "Those people have their own burdens. They don't need mine". She said solemnly.

"Well, seeing as how I've suddenly lost both of my best friends and my social standing is practically nil, I've got no burdens to carry" Kimberly said with a smile.

Haylee turned to Kimberly, surprise and suspicion on her face. "Am I hearing this right? The popular Kimberly Hart wants to be friends with _me?"_

Kimberly snorted. "Not so popular anymore, or at least, not in ways that mattered to me. But, maybe it's time for a change, for both of us."

Haylee thought for a moment, then a smile appeared on her face. "Well, if that's the case…" Haylee broke off as she shrugged off her jacket, turned her back to Kimberly and motioned to her own hair.

Kimberly's eyes widened as she realized what Haylee wanted. "Are you sure?"

Haylee's smile widened. "If we're going to be friends now, we're going to have to start trusting each other, and you trusted me to cut _your_ hair."

Kimberly smiled again "Okay 'friend' How long do you want it?"

 **Later**

A few minutes later, when Haylee and Kimberly returned to the Detention room, every eye instantly flew to their new appearances. Kimberly had cut Haylee's hair to just below her shoulders and trimmed her bangs slightly. The change was apparently well received by the students, judging by how much cheering and whistling they were making. As they took their seats, Kimberly smiled at the boy who had been bullied, who nodded at her, and Haylee smiled at Jason, whose wide-eyed look of amazement faded into an impressed smirk.

At the end of Detention, Jason emerged through the main doors of the school, watching Kimberly and Haylee say goodbye to each other at the base of the stairs and separated. Haylee headed towards her motorcycle, while Kimberly headed towards her parent's van.

Jason could hear sounds of anguish coming from Kimberly's father and mother over the state of her hair, but he was looking more at Haylee. That girl was a mystery to him. She intrigued him. Ever since she had arrived at Angel Grove at the start of the semester, she had captured his attention in a way that no one else had, even before he had learned she was Acrylic. She was bold and stood up for others, but was never a part of the social scene. She was always ready to help others, but was also always alone. Up until today, Jason had never seen Haylee with anyone. She had never dated anyone, never hung out with anyone, never seemed to want to connect with _anyone_.

Maybe it was because she had wanted to hide the fact that she was Acrylic. Jason could understand that, though now that her secret was out, Haylee suddenly seemed a lot more approachable. Kimberly Hart had wasted no time befriending the girl, apparently getting Haylee to trust her enough to let the former cheerleader cut her hair. Jason marveled at how fast the girl had worked. Barely a few weeks ago, those two would never have been seen within ten feet of each other, and now they were acting like sisters. They had spent detention texting each other under their desks and hiding their giggles from the teacher. The scene had left Jason feeling...slightly envious.

 _If Kimberly can make friends with Haylee, maybe I can too._ Jason thought, and his mouth curved up into a smile as he started down the stairs. He wasn't exactly sure _why_ he was drawn to the mysterious girl, but he strangely liked the thought of Haylee calling him a friend. The only question was...how to do that?

"Hey!" Jason heard a voice behind him and turned to see the boy he had helped earlier standing behind him. "Hey, listen, um...thanks…thanks for that, back there"

"No worries. I hate guys like that" Jason nodded at him before turning to go.

"Okay so. Hey, we should, uh, hang out sometime, huh?" the boy said nervously. "I mean, not that we have to, but I think we should tonight"

"What's your name again?" Jason asked, turning back to him.

"Billy. Billy Cranston" the boy answered. "Or William Cranston, if you wanna be formal. Yeah, you've probably heard of me. People used to call me Billy Crams-tons back in third grade as a joke. You know, Billy Crams-tons of crayons in his butt? Which I didn't! But only because it's kinda physically impossible to cram tons of crayons in your butt" Billy blinked, as if he just now realized what he was saying. "Oh, no, no. I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry"

Jason had raised an eyebrow as Billy had started ranting. He had helped the kid yes, but it was more due to Jason wanting to prove Haylee wrong, and a small vendetta he had against Colt, not because he wanted to befriend this nerd. When Billy paused, Jason saw a chance to end the conversation and jumped in.

"You know, Billy. You seem like a great guy, really great, and I would so _love_ to hang out with you. But, unfortunately, I have a date, every night, with the Angle Grove Police Department" Jason lifted up his pants leg to show the home arrest device attached to his ankle. "So, I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid it just can't happen"

With that, Jason turned and started down the steps, letting his pant leg fall.

"No...no, wait! Don't leave! Don't leave, hey!" Jason groaned mentally as he heard Billy fall into step beside him. "All right, look, I don't really expect us to 'hang out' or anything like that. The truth…the truth is that I need to get somewhere tonight, and I could really use your help doing that"

Jason sighed and hitched on a fake smile as he turned back to Billy. By now, they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Billy, I hear you, I _really_ do, but as I told you, I'm under house arrest, so there's nothing I can do for you. I'm sorry" Jason turned to leave.

"I know how to get around that!" Billy's next outburst made Jason pause. "I…I mean…I can fix that. I know how to trick the…the thing… I mean, I…I cant do it now, but I can at home, I've got…I've got tools"

Jason turned to look at Billy. "I need to be at my house before 7:00"

"Well…If you…if you come by my house at 7:00, I can fix it for you. " Billy said eagerly. "Oh, I also have a car, or at least, I've got access to a car, and…if you help me, you…you can have it for a few hours."

Jason's mind whirred. This nerd was offering him freedom for a whole night, and the only catch was that he had to take the kid somewhere and pick him up later.

"Ok, where do you live?" He said, smiling.

Billy giggled like a giddy schoolboy and told Jason his address. He thanked Jason about ten times and finally walked away, a definite spring in his step.

Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, Jason turned to head towards where his mother was waiting for him, but paused when he saw Haylee watching him from astride her motorcycle. Upon seeing Jason watching her, Haylee shot Jason a knowing smile before slamming down the visor on her helmet, revving up her motorcycle, and racing away. Jason watched her go, a strange feeling in his gut. For the first time in what felt like ages, even before the disastrous prank, he felt...content.

* * *

 **And Cut!**

 **Sorry this is a short chapter, but I felt that this would be a good stopping point in the story right now.**

 **For those of you who haven't noticed, Jason and Haylee are gonna be the focal pillars of this story. I'm doing this because I think they pair well together in the plotline I've written. They're both leaders, even if they both don't see it, and I, for one, am eager to see where this 'competition' between the two of them ends up. Right now, Jason seems a bit smitten with our dear Haylee, the lone wolf in school. Will Jason succeed in snaring her, or will one of them move on to 'greener' pastures? We'll see.**

 **Until Next Time!**


	5. Chapter 4

**CH 4:**

Jason was still feeling good when he got home later that day. His dad had never showed to pick Jason up, so he had had to walk home from detention. It had been a long walk, and his leg had started bothering him about halfway through the trip, but he hadn't minded. As he wandered into the kitchen, he couldn't stop grinning, imagining the smile on Haylee's face and Billy's excitement, as he opened the fridge and pulled out a burger. Setting the meat on a plate, he closed the fridge door, and then paused.

Taped to the fridge door was a newspaper article titled "Angel Grove's Golden Boy". Below it was a picture of Jason in his football gear, smiling at the camera.

As Jason stared at the article, his smile faded, his good mood leaving with it. He sighed and turned away from the refrigerator, ambling over to the counter, wincing as pain shot through his leg again.

"Your knee hurtin'?" A dark look appeared on Jason's face as he heard his father walking behind him.

"It always hurts" Jason said bluntly as he took some bread from the cupboard and began making himself a sandwich. "Didn't help that I had to walk home from detention" He added

"Yeah, sorry about that, but I had to prep the boat" Sam replied, speaking over the hiss of the faucet as he washed his hands in the kitchen sink. "I'm going for an overnighter, gotta try and bring in a bigger catch, it's dead out there" Sam shut off the water and paused, gazing out the window at the water beyond. "I swear, I've never seen it this bad. It's like there's something out there, scaring the fish away"

"Maybe it's you" Jason muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Sam asked as he turned around.

"Nothing, nothing at all" Jason replied quickly, thinking back to what Haylee had said. A small smile appeared on his face as Haylee's face appeared in his mind.

"You know, the doctor said, if you do your workouts, and your drills, you can get on the other side of this" Sam's voice brought Jason back to reality, and his anger.

"No dad, that is not what he said, that's what you heard" Jason corrected his father. "What he said was something completely different"

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked as he finished drying his hands and turned around. "I asked him if he thought you could overcome this and he said..."

"No dad, you _asked_ him 'If he trains and does drills, then could he get back to where he was?', and the doctor paused for what seemed like a year and said 'It's possible', Dad..." Jason turned to give his father a look. "'It's hard to say'."

Sam's face darkened and his hands found their way to his hips. "So you're not even gonna try?" He asked.

Jason snorted and said "Oh I'm gonna gimp all around town, just to embarrass you"

"You've already done that" Sam muttered.

"What was that?" Jason turned to look at his father.

Sam didn't answer the question. Instead he took a few deep breaths before leaning against the counter on the other side of the room. "So what's the plan here, huh?" He demanded. "You get arrested, blow out your knee, and kill every option you had?"

"Oh, I killed _my_ options?" Jason snorted. "You made me plead guilty to evading police, we didn't have to do that. Dale's father didn't make _him_ do that...!"

"You deserved that!" Sam cut through Jason's rant. "When a person does something wrong, they need to be held accountable"

"Okay fine" Jason was seething now. Forget what Haylee had said, there was no reasoning with this guy! In a fit of anger, Jason moved to the refrigerator, ripped the article of himself off of it, crumpled it into a ball and threw it in the trash can.

Sam sighed and shook his head, defeatedly. "You know I have other copies" he said as he moved to pull something out of a cupboard.

"Yeah, of course you do, dad" Jason said, his voice tight now. "After all you basically wrote it, didn't you?. You went down to the news station, and you got the guy to do that damn article"

"I did that for you!" Sam spun around to frame Jason with a look. "It was for your own good, to help with recruiting, you should be thanking me for that!"

"For what? For hyping me up and then leaving me in jail for three nights?" Jason finally snapped. "How do you think I feel walking around town right now?"

"How do you think _I_ feel walking around town right now?" Sam yelled back, moving forward until he and Jason were almost in each other's faces.

"Stop it, both of you!" Jason's mother suddenly shouted as she got between them. "Let's not do this tonight!"

"Jason, are you okay?" Jason suddenly felt something grab onto his non-injured leg and looked down into the worried face of his little sister, Pearl.

"Pearl, sweetheart, go get your jacket" Her mother said, giving a sweet smile that fooled no one.

"Okay" Pearl mumbled, reluctantly letting go of Jason and rushing from the room.

"God, I don't know what Haylee sees in you, dad" Jason growled.

"What?" Sam looked up.

"Yeah, Haylee Price and I were talking about you during detention today. Oh, she says hi, by the way"

"Jason, I told you not to talk to her!"

"No dad, you told me to stay _away_ from her. You didn't say _anything_ about not talking to her"

"It. Was. Implied!" Sam growled, his body tensing. Jason could tell he was really mad now.

Yeah, well you know what she said to me?" Jason continued. "She said, 'Hey Jason, you know what I think? I think that maybe you should consider listening to your father.'" Jason snorted as surprise flashed across Sam's face. "Yeah, shocked me too, but apparently she thinks that, somehow, you know what's best for me. Now I don't know _why_ she could possibly think that since it's so _clearly_ obvious that nothing could be farther from the truth!"

"Jason!" Jason saw his mother gasp, a horrified expression on her face, and he instantly felt guilt rush through him. Maybe he had taken things too far, and not he had dragged Haylee's name into this, which he was probably going to regret later on.

Sam's expression had turned cold again. For a few tense moments, he glared at Jason. "I'm going fishing"' He finally growled, before grabbing his gear and heading for the door.

Jason retreated to his room. Laying on his bed, he put his hands behind his head, sighing in defeat. He glanced around his room, and his eyes fell upon a small trophy sitting by his bedside. He snatched it up and stared at it for a moment, as if steeling himself to do something. Then he quickly snapped off the top of the trophy and threw both pieces to the floor of his room in disgust. He leaned back in his bed, breathing heavily for a moment.

Jason glanced at his clock. 6:22. He sighed and sat up on his bed.

 _So what's the plan here, huh?_ His dad's voice echoed in his head. Jason grit his teeth and shook his head, trying to clear the voice away. _What are you gonna do with your life! You could have been so much more!_

A firm look appeared on Jason's face. He got up, grabbed his pack, and swung it over his shoulder. He rushed downstairs, past his astonished mother, her cries about where he was going barely registering in his ears as he raced outside and grabbed his bike. Hopping on, he rode hard towards Billy's house as fast as he could, taking as many shortcuts as possible, across lawns, and through public areas, transitioning between the street and the sidewalk, to the anger of motorists, who honked their horns at him.

"Get out of the way, man!" An angry river yelled as Jason cut in front of his car, causing him to screech to a stop and angrily beep his horn. Two girls who were walking nearby looked up as he passed.

"Oh my God, is that Jason Scott?" Jason heard one of them ask and he smirked, despite himself.

As Jason neared Billy's street, pain began to build up in his knee. He rubbed it to try and soothe the injured joint, but he kept on peddling, not stopping until he reached Billy's house. He rang the bell and bent over, panting heavily.

Billy's mother opened the door, and her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Oh my god, Jason Scott!"

"Hi...Mrs. Lewis...I'm...looking for Billy" Jason said in-between breaths.

"He's...in the basement" Billy's mother said numbly, stepping aside to let Jason in.

Jason hobbled over to the basement door and opened it. "Billy? "He called down.

"Yeah" A voice replied from below

"Billy!" Jason started down the stairs.

"Yes!" Billy called back, causing Jason to thunder down the rest of the steps to find Billy sitting at a long desk that was cluttered with miscellaneous items.

"Billy, it's 6:56...!"

"6:56, I know. You've got four minutes. Grab that chair" Billy cut Jason off as he got up and began moving around the room, picking up various things.

Jason's gaze turned to the clutter on the desk. "What's all this stuff?" He asked.

"It's...um...objects that I found with my dad, actually most of this stuff is his" Billy explained as he searched for something, pushing other things out of the way as he spoke. "Where's the cage? Where is it? Where...ah! Here it is." He suddenly straightened up with a roll of mesh in his hands.

"Here!" Billy hurried over to where Jason was sitting. "Put your foot in this"

"Wh..what is that?" Jason asked as he complied.

"It's a Faraday cage" Billy explained as he positioned the mesh around the ankle monitor. "It should block the cell signal, if we're lucky" Billy moved away to grab something else, and the device on Jason's ankle suddenly started beeping.

Jason looked down in panic. "That's the three minute warning!" He exclaimed as Billy grabbed his laptop and sat down in front of Jason. "Come on buddy, if the signal goes off...!"

"My dad...has been dead for seven years, four months, and...two days? Yeah, two days" Billy said, ignoring Jason's aura of anxiety.

Jason paused, thrown off a bit by the sudden change in direction. "Um...yeah...okay"

"Yeah, that's a long time" Billy said as he reached out and took the casing off of the ankle monitor. Using a pair of tweezers, he removed a chip, plugged it into a flashdrive, and then plugged the drive into his laptop. "He used to work at the mine, you see"

"Uh Billy, I don't really think we have time to..." Jason tried to return Billy's attention to the issue at hand as the boy began typing away.

Billy suddenly looked up. "You still live at 4455 Old Warf?" He asked.

Jason, again caught off guard, stuttered "Yes-yes I do"

Billy returned to his work "Been past it a couple times, great house"

"O-kay" Jason said slowly.

"So yeah, about my dad" Billy said as he continued to type away. "We used to go and find objects together. Some of them were really, really old"

The monitor's beeping began to accelerate and Jason began to panic again. "Billy, I'm gonna get in trouble here!"

"Uh...almost like that show American Pickers!" Billy didn't seem to be listening to Jason at all as he pulled the chip out of the flashdrive.

"Billy, the signal's gonna go off!" Jason urged.

"Yeah, dad and I, we definitely should have had our own TV show. That would have been _so_ crazy." Billy said as he replaced the ship inside the ankle monitor and snapped the casing back on.

"Billy, what are you doing?" Jason began to breathe heavily as Billy took the mesh away.

"I remember this one time, man it was so crazy" Billy turned away to put the mesh on the table.

The pace of the beeping quickened even more, but Billy either didn't hear it or he was ignoring it.

"Dude, come on! Seriously!" Jason begged as the beeping got even faster. "It's gonna go-Billy come on!"

Billy suddenly seemed to be aware that Jason was trying to talk to him. He turned and looked at Jason. "What?" He asked simply.

"The device! It's gonna...!" Jason froze in horror as his ankle monitor gave out a shrill, steady beep, followed by a short chirp. The light, which had bee flashing red, was now green.

Jason looked up at Billy, astonishment quickly fading into relief as he reached out and hugged Billy, who was too surprised to move.

"Thanks man" Jason said as he released Billy, but kept his hands on the boy's shoulders. "I mean it. Thank you"

"Mhh hmm. Can you stop touching me now?" Billy asked.

* * *

 **Meanwhile** :

Haylee Price sighed as she tried to focus on her chemistry homework, but the loud music thumping coming from below made it hard for her to concentrate.

Her phone buzzed, causing her to look up. It was a text from Kimberly.

 _Hey! What's up?_

Haylee smiled and grabbed her phone.

 _Nothing, I'm down so low I can't even see the top_.

A few seconds later, Kimberly replied.

 _OMG, that sucks!_

This was followed by a pair of sad-face emojis, making Haylee chuckle.

 _Can you get away?_

Kim's next text made Haylee pause. She frowned thoughtfully before glancing down at the floor. The bass seemed to grow even louder.

 _I think so...why?_ Haylee texted.

 _Come to my house, 1474 Valencia Rd._ Kimberly replied.

Haylee raised an eyebrow. Valencia Rd was way out in the middle of the woods! Only the more wealthy citizens could live there! It was an area that Haylee had never been to, mainly because she had heard how many parents in that area tended to spoil their children. These stories had left Haylee with a burning feeling in her stomach.

Haylee looked at her phone, then at the floor, and smiled.

 _Give me 30 minutes,_ she texted before closing her book.

* * *

 **And Cut!**

 **Hello Everyone! This is a spur-of-the-moment chapter, so I'm sorry if it's not as long as you would like, but I had the overwhelming urge to publish SOMETHING tonight and this chapter was the closest to a stopping point than any of my other works.**

 **FYI: I've recently taken on a new job position in an area where WIFI will be tricky, so updates might be fewer and farther between than they have been. I'm not giving up on any of my stories, but I will need to work around this new development, so please bear with me!**

 **Until Next Time!**


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